Renée Binder, M.D.

Past President of the American Psychiatric Association (2016 – 2019)

• Past President of the American Psychiatric Association
• Professor of psychiatry, founding director of the Psychiatry and Law Program and Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship, and associate dean for academic affairs, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
• Researcher and author on clinical and legal aspects of the relationship between violence and mental illness

Renée Binder, M.D., serves as Past President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and served as President of APA from 2015 to 2016. She is a professor of psychiatry, founding director of the Psychiatry and Law Program and Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship, and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine (UCSF). Her research focuses on clinical and legal aspects of the relationship between violence and mental illness.

Dr. Binder has had a long association with APA. She is a past president of the Northern California Psychiatric Society, California Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and Association of Directors of Forensic Psychiatry Fellowships. She has served as chair of all of APA’s forensic components: Committee on Confidentiality, Isaac Ray Award Selection Committee, Council on Psychiatry and the Law, and Committee/Commission on Judicial Action. In addition, she has served as Area 6 deputy representative and representative in the APA Assembly and was an APA Health Policy Fellow in the U.S. Senate.

Dr. Binder has also been a senior examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Inc. (ABPN) and a member of the committees on certification and recertification in forensic psychiatry.

In 2006, Dr. Binder received the highly competitive American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law’s Seymour J. Pollack Distinguished Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to forensic psychiatry education. In 2014, she was awarded the organization’s prestigious Golden Apple Award in recognition of her significant contributions to the field of forensic psychiatry.

Dr. Binder received her medical degree from UCSF and completed psychiatry residency at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco. She is the author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications.